T+A elektroakustik R 2500 R Multisource Receiver Reviewed

When I initially received the latest component for review from German manufacturer T+A, I was both very intrigued and pleasantly surprised. Right out of the box, the T+A R 2500 R exuded an overall feeling of quality. It is aesthetically pleasing and has the weight and heft to make it feel well-made. As I got further into this compelling and out-of-the-box audiophile component, I became increasingly impressed by all the features T+A has packed into a device some may erroneously view as just another one-box solution. In fact, I see this device as an integrated amplifier, but also as a host of other components as well. It is a receiver. It is also a streaming device. It has a DAC, and a Compact Disc player. It is easily classified as all of the above. However viewed, I see it as a well-thought-out product by a manufacturer committed to quality and excellence, and a company that offers a very respectable value.  

What Makes the T+A R 2500 R Multisource Receiver Special?

• Few audiophile components offer the variety of features and source selections as the T+A R 2500 R. In addition to being an integrated amplifier, this ingenious device also offers connectivity to all of the popular streaming services, and will work with both Tidal and Roon (read all about Roon here). Streamed music is supported from MP3 all the way up to DSD256. True to its official name, the T+A R 2500 R Multisource Receiver will function as a full-featured FM tuner, and will also operate as a DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) tuner, which in many cases offers superior sonics to traditional FM radio. If all this is not enough, there is a built-in CD drive/transport and a full-featured DAC.
• The DAC section can process signals from PCM up to DSD256. PCM playback is carried out by eight 32-bit Burr-Brown DAC chips. Most impressively, the T+A R 2500 R can process DSD natively through the use of a T+A designed True-1Bit Converter. It also offers four digital filters, including the T+A in-house-designed OVS Bezier Interpolation Filter, which the company claims “provides perfect timing and dynamics for PCM playback.”
• For an additional charge of $920, an available phonostage may be added at the factory or by an authorized T+A dealer. 
• A remote is included, as well as a free downloadable T+A app in both Android and IOS formats.
• Borrowed from the technology used in the HV line of products, T+A uses input circuitry based on fully discrete J-FET transistors and does not use any operational or op-amps in the overall design. 
• The T+A R 2500 R features 140 WPC into eight ohms and 250 WPC into four ohms. The amplifier is Class-AB and has sufficient power to drive almost any speaker configuration. 
• Two sets of speaker terminals are included and will accept spade and banana terminations. 
• The volume control also borrows from the HV line of products with a resistor ladder-type design. Volume attenuation is fully linear and is carried out in one-click/one-dB increments.  
• Looking around back, there is a whole host of available connections. There is one balanced XLR and two single-ended RCA inputs. A separate music server is therefore easily connected. There are three HDMI inputs (read about why HDMI is important to audiophiles) to accommodate devices such as a Blu-Ray player, a cable box, an HDTV, or all three. Also included is a USB-A connection for external drives, a USB-B for a computer, a coax connection (RCA), two S/PDIF (TosLink) connections, and even a connection for an antenna to support the FM radio. And yes, the antenna is also included in the box. How’s that for convenience? 
• The T+A R 2500 R comes in two finishes – silver and black. 

Why Should You Care About the T+A R 2500 R Multisource Receiver?

It seems patently obvious that our beloved hobby is moving in several concurrent directions. One is the move towards a more all-in-one setup. There are certainly homes with family members who find little interest in a massive rack filled with boxes, glowing meters, and pilot lights, and are mostly unsure what any of the components actually do. There are family members who, while not objecting to quality sound, would prefer the sound not come from a more traditional audio system taking up valuable space in the family room. This lends itself to interest in a lifestyle product. What the T+A R 2500 R offers is a component with an extreme level of versatility and ancillary uses. Yet also, it is a device with the solid engineering excellence that made T+A into one of the more respected audio companies on the globe. It has the aesthetics to be pleasing when placed in an audio rack, and the variety of features to make it a full-featured product, even if kept in a cabinet. Personally, I think hiding this component behind closed doors would be a tragedy, but that’s just me. Conversely, it should also be considered an audiophile product. The level of engineering, build quality, and the shared use of technology with the “HV” level T+A products means that the R 2500R is capable of the level of sonics that audiophiles demand. Having both of these abilities makes the T+A R 2500 R a device worth caring about. 

Some Things You Might Not Like About the T+A R 2500 R Multisource Receiver

• In order to make FM radio reception more effective, an antenna is included. However, finding a place to aesthetically place the antenna, and also one that provides the best reception, may prove difficult and potentially somewhat unsightly. Let’s face it, antennas are not widely used in today’s home entertainment components, unless hidden away in an attic or on a roof in most cases.
• Selecting such a wide range of music and entertainment options may be confusing for some. Which button to push for what source and how something is chosen may be unclear to some family members.
• SACD and/or other legacy disc formats are not supported in the CD Drive section. 

Listening With The T+A R 2500 R Multisource Receiver …

I have not listened to FM in years, so spending very little time listening to radio would be my first choice. If I had the T+A R 2500 R in my system permanently, I would use the radio for a football game and probably little else. Therefore, I spent almost no time on the radio section, other than confirming that it did work. It does. 

Generally speaking, across the balance of the sources I tested, I found the clarity and accuracy to be very good. The dynamic quality was more than acceptable but, not surprisingly, lacked the power and intensity of my reference T+A HV separate amp and preamp. Imaging was actually better than I expected but, once again, not as wide and deep as in my normal system. By no means are these comments a condemnation of the T+A R 2500 R. In fact, for all the things this device is designed to do, I felt the sonics were very impressive. 

Because streaming is so prevalent these days, spending time with Internet based music made perfect sense. Overall, I found the streaming section of the T+A R 2500 R offered excellent sonics. With the tune “Believer” by the Imagine Dragons, I found this track to be very upbeat, vocally intense, and a track with a pounding drumbeat that continued all the way through until the end. The lower-frequency drum section in the beginning stood in sharp contrast to the somewhat higher-pitched vocals. In both cases, the T+A R 2500 R portrayed each one effectively. And when the guitars and bass joined in, this song suddenly became quite powerful. I was impressed by the rich dynamic quality the R 2500 R was able to deliver. 

I was especially curious how my Laufer Teknik Memory Player 64 (read review here) would sound because, on my system, the server offers the best overall sonics. I decided to first try a song I use quite often, the 96/24 download of The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” from the rock opera Tommy. Overall, Pete Townshend crafted a complex tune with very dynamic guitar and bass sections and even vivid orchestrations. Townshend and John Entwistle, at the beginning, image on completely opposite sides of my audio room, just as they do normally. Keith Moon is, as always, simply explosive on drums, and Roger Daltrey’s vocals are very expressively placed in the forefront of the overall presentation. All of these sonic qualities were adequately displayed with the T+A R 2500 R. I found no fault whatsoever with the presentation and, in fact, found them quite captivating. I even cranked “Pinball Wizard” up to about 95 dB, I was having so much fun. With this track especially, the R 2500 R stopped being a lifestyle product and became an audiophile product easily capable of enticing me to an air guitar moment. As to whether or not I actually mimicked Townshend’s whirlwind motion – no comment …

Despite having waned in popularity, there are many music collections with a significant number of CDs. Because a CD slot is so conveniently placed on the front of the T+A R 2500 R, it only made sense to play a CD. In general, I found no fault with the CD section. In fact, I played a dozen or more CDs and thought they all sounded better than on my current CD player, the Rotel CD11 Tribute (read review here). On the landmark release titled Kind of Blue by jazz icon Miles Davis, the track “So What” was 9:22 minutes of pure enjoyment. There was a readily obvious punch to Davis’ trumpet and the high notes were demonstrably razor-sharp, yet there were pleasing lyrical qualities also produced. Both were readily heard through the CD section of the T+A R 2500 R. Overall, the highly melodic quality for which this tune is known was easily portrayed. 

Will the T+A R 2500 R Multi Source Receiver Hold Its Value?

I must admit, I thought about this question for some time. Deriving one unified answer proved difficult. For some, this will be a product purchased as much because of its audiophile pedigree as anything else. The build quality and use of much of the same world-class technology as the T+A HV line of components basically ensures an audiophile classification. For others, it is a nice one-box solution that offers a multitude of possibilities, and one which will not be overly intrusive in the home. For those enthusiasts who consider themselves audio purists, and especially those who lean towards large, six-figure systems, consisting of all separate components, the T+A R 2500 R may be viewed as not audiophile enough. For the normal audiophile who enjoys multi-source versatility, as well as high-quality sound, this is a component that will effortlessly satisfy those goals. However it is ultimately used, the T+A R 2500 R should easily last for many years into the future, and hence is a value-oriented purchase. 

What is the Competition For the T+A R 2500 R Multisource Receiver?

At a retail cost of $12,500, the Hegel H600 Streaming Integrated Amplifier is a worthy competitor. It features a dual mono amplifier section, with an output of 303 WPC into eight ohms. It can stream all of the popular formats, from MP3 up to high-res. For inputs, the Hegel H600 has two balanced or XLR and two single-ended or RCA connections. Other inputs include S/PDIF and USB, which will support DSD 256. It is both Tidal and Roon-ready, and also features a full-function DAC. Unlike the T+A R 2500 R, the Hegel H600 does not have a built-in CD player. Nor does it have a phonostage option. However, both could be separately connected if the user preferred playing silver discs and LPs.  One feature that tends to classify this as a lifestyle product with an audiophile pedigree is the remote. The Hegel H600 may be programed to be controlled by the TV or cable box remote, in addition to the included remote. How’s that for ending the fight over who has the remote? 

I feel compelled to mention T+A’s other all-in-one device, the Caruso R. This device, which retails for $4,275, has many of the features of its exceedingly much bigger brother, the T+A R 2500 R. How does the Caruso R stack up? Amplifier and preamplifier? Check. However, the amp section is only 50 WPC into eight ohms and 100 watts per channel into four ohms. CD Player? Check. Streaming section? Check. In fact, it streams PCM and high-res, but not DSD. It is both Tidal and Roon-ready. Tuner? Again, check, although its capabilities do not extend much beyond Internet Radio and FM. It even has a very nice seven-inch front touchscreen to control everything, and it comes with a remote. The Caruso R is a worthy competitor as a lifestyle multisource product. However, it is not a leading-edge audiophile component with world-class sonics. But what is offered at a difference in cost of $14,525 easily makes the decision of an all-in-one more interesting, if not downright difficult. This product begs the question of, what is the user looking for, an audiophile or a lifestyle product?

It should be noted the multisource category is a very popular product segment in today’s high-performance audio landscape. Because there are so many music enthusiasts who potentially want a better-sounding product, a very wide variety of choices at a multitude of prices is available. This is a segment of high-end audio in which there are quite possibly more options than might be easily evaluated. A product in this classification is a three-fold decision – what variety of source components are desired, what is the minimum level of sonic quality required, and three, what is the available budget?  

Final Thoughts On the T+A R 2500 R Multisource Receiver

I really enjoyed my time with this innovative device from a maker that I genuinely feel manufactures a wide range of high-quality products. Having so many options on how to play a song, watch a movie or any of the myriad things this device provides was infectious. I also cannot help but imagine what T+A must go through to effectively market the R 2500 R. As a lifestyle product, it is a standout. Few devices have such a wide range of ways to entertain oneself. But a larger question is this – is the $18,800 retail price too high, compared to other very worthy components also classified as a lifestyle product? And, in regard to the audiophile community, are the sonics sufficiently advanced to satisfy the average audiophile’s aural bottom line? 

I highly doubt T+A’s target market being anyone at either end of the spectrum. Anyone in search of an entry-level, budget-priced multi-use player to put into a cabinet and play music on a rainy day will likely not find the T+A R 2500 R an obvious selection. And dedicated audiophiles looking for the Nth degree of sonic perfection with the means, and desire, for a six-figure-plus system investment will likewise consider something in T+A’s HV family of products. These conditions place most potential buyers squarely in the middle. As the owner of a company I worked for many years ago was fond of saying, “We don’t want to be the cheapest or the most expensive, we don’t want to be the best or the worst, we want to be in the middle. That gets us the most potential customers.” 

With the R 2500 R, T+A has positioned itself in the middle with a component with a wide range of capabilities and a retail cost substantially less than purchasing all of those sources separately. It is also a component that piggybacks on the highly-engineered and decidedly more expensive HV components in the T+A product line. And it would even seem to be somewhat unique in T+A’s overall offerings, given all its capabilities. Clearly, the German audio maker has put a lot of thought into this product. They are looking to market a device that satisfies a wide range of potential clients. 

What I can say is this – if the features and capabilities are of interest as a lifestyle product, or if the build quality and sonics are of interest as an audiophile product, then visit an authorized dealer to find out if the T+A R 2500 R will satisfy either or both of the end uses it was designed to address. Anyone who finds this to be a very enjoyable product, as I did, will have a component that checks off many of the boxes used to justify a home-based audio system. And if a sufficient number of those boxes are in fact checked off, be assured of owning a product that has both excellent engineering and the ability to please everyone in the household. Listening sessions and family movie night never had it so good.